article150517-2

A study was conducted to examine inequalities in hypertension and obesity between the Sumbanese low caste and the commoner. The Sumbanese low castes i.e. the slave caste and the commoner caste are among the most marginalized group in Indonesia. The caste norm dictates that people from these castes to be economically dependent to the local nobilities. The slave caste is fully dependent to the local nobility, while the commoner caste is partially dependent. Being the least free, it is believed that the slave caste experiences poorer health status than the commoner one. The study involved 598 adults resided in 33 traditional residential in Sumba. It is shown that the size of the caste gap in raised blood pressure is robust to different estimation specifications, even when we account for differences in BMI in the estimation for caste gap in raised blood pressure